Replies

1 posted on 10/30/2020 12:45:32 PM PDT by BenLurkin

2 posted on 10/30/2020 12:46:07 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)

“Inside the gas generator”

Nicknamed “Hillary”.

3 posted on 10/30/2020 12:49:04 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancerÂ”)

The tests found a masking lacquer, left over from the build process, had blocked a vent hole.

Oopsie. Someone forgot to wash off the PVA before assembly.

4 posted on 10/30/2020 12:55:20 PM PDT by Ol' Dan Tucker (For 'tis the sport to have the engineer hoist with his own petard., -- Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 4)

a NASA briefing this week that a problem with a "nail polish"-like substance discovered during a previous launch threatened to derail the grand plans

Recall some years ago Marine helicopters were falling out of the air because of de-laminating rotor blades

Was eventually traced to a laminating technician who would varnish her nails at beak time

The nail varnish vapor on the blades prevented proper adhesion.

5 posted on 10/30/2020 12:56:50 PM PDT by spokeshave (White Confederate statue kills black man......Another month of protests.... (HT to seawolf101))

Reminds me of a time I was the engineering lead on a project building a big radar and when they were flusing out the cooling water one day at the test site they found plastic debris in the lines. I ordered them to shut it all down and flush the lines and finally we figured out that we had a defective valve that had a plastic ball inside to control water flow but which had broken down. We knew the source of the plastic but the issue was that we had no way of knowing if we'd gotten all of the stuff out or if any of it would lodge into the cooling water piping for the high power transmitter. If it did, it could cause the transmitter to burn up, that's hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment toasted.

We had to make a call and this was my first big leadership job so I went to the bigshots, VP of engineering on down they all said 'wow, that's a tough decision you have. Let us know what happens.' Thanks, guys. Lead from behind I guess. So it was all on me.

Knowing I could cook the transmitter and end my career, I said 'enough is enough, turn it on and let's radiate.' It was fine. But I aged five years in the meantime.

6 posted on 10/30/2020 1:02:14 PM PDT by pepsi_junkie (Often wrong, but never in doubt!)

Not a robust system if it can be stopped with some misapplied nail polish (lacquer).

7 posted on 10/30/2020 1:10:44 PM PDT by Pearls Before Swine

Sounds like a QA/QC problem.

8 posted on 10/30/2020 1:13:05 PM PDT by LastDayz (A blunt and brazen Texan. I will not be assimilated.)

Lacquer in the gas line.

I remember something like this clogging a carb on my motorcycle in 1974. As much as it seems silly, it stopped me in the middle of the woods.

9 posted on 10/30/2020 1:20:43 PM PDT by Vermont Lt

A frozen o-ring took out the Challenger.

15 posted on 10/30/2020 2:43:29 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Islam is a totalitarian death cult founded by a child rapist.)

With my advanced degree in thermodynamic profundity of dual matrix bovine scatology, the only think I can offer is

How about them Bears!

17 posted on 10/30/2020 3:15:30 PM PDT by SERE_DOC ( The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it. TJ)

Hans Koenigsmann explained in a NASA briefing this week that a problem with a "nail polish"-like substance discovered during a previous launch threatened to derail the grand plans... a masking lacquer, left over from the build process, had blocked a vent hole.

No problem. Go to Dollar Tree and get a bottle of polish remover.

28 posted on 10/31/2020 10:51:57 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)

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